Administrative/Biographical History
Grace E. McConnaughey, daughter of John Thompson and Lucetta Ursula Mills McConnaughey, was born in Washington, Iowa in 1882. After attending Benzonia Academy from 1900 to 1905, she received an Oberlin College AB in 1909. She then went to Shansi Province, China, in 1910 as a Congregational missionary. She remained there 18 years, many of them as principal of a girls school in Fenchow. From 1929 to 1932 she lived in Boston and worked as Candidate Secretary for the American Board for Foreign Missions finding college trained women to serve in stations about the world. This position ended when the depression reduced the number of missionaries who could be supported. From 1933-1941 she was house director of various Oberlin College dormitories. After being forced to quit this position due to illness, she lived in Claremont, California; and for seven years, as she wrote, "lived in a suitcase and earned my keep by any means, not immoral!" In 1947 Miss McConnaughey moved into Pilgrim Place in Claremont, an retirement home for Protestant missionaries and ministers, where from 1967 she was a resident of the nursing home. There she lived with other Oberlin graduates, who also had been missionaries. She died on 30 June 1978 at the age of 96.
SOURCES CONSULTED
Student file of Grace E. McConnaughey (RG 28)
The Guide to the Women’s History Sources in the Oberlin College Archives (1990).
Forms of Material (links to similar genres) Administrative InformationRecords of the Oberlin Shansi Memorial Association (RG 15)
Papers of Oberlin College Presidents Henry Churchill King (RG 2/6) and Ernest Hatch Wilkins (RG 2/7)
Records of the YMCA-YWCA (RG 29)
The Oberlin Band of Student Volunteers for Foreign Missions (RG 19/3/1)
Personal Papers:
Lydia Lord Davis (RG 30/80)
Florence Fitch (RG 30/37)
Alice Moon Williams (RG 30/58)
John Griffith Olmstead (30/2)
Everett D. Hawkins (30/130)
Robbins Strong (30/215)
Herbert and Josephine Van Meter (30/288)
Raymond T. Moyer (30/260)
Ellsworth C. Carlson (30/176)
E. Michael Hoffman (30/69)
The papers of Grace E. McConnaughey document her missionary work in Shanxi Province, China from 1910 to 1928. Her letters written to her mother and "Home Folks" provide detailed accounts of missionary life in China, as well as life in China during the early part of the twentieth century. The letters and photographs illustrate the customs, daily activities, hardships, and accomplishments of the Chinese people. Grace McConnaughey's writings include two published articles "Big Sister Jen: The Loving Hearted' (1921), and "The Removal of an Ancient Landmark" (incomplete, n.d.). Her unpublished works include the story of a Chinese slave girl named Sunshine. Also included is an autobiographical sketch of McConnaughey. Series 1 contains the manuscript titled "Amazing Grace" (electrostatic copy of a double-spaced typescript; 567 pp.) prepared from the letters by Grace E. McConnaughey Murray, a niece of the missionary. Despite omissions and alterations Mrs. Murray followed the originals closely; providing a compilation of the accounts and details explained in the letters, and an alternative to using the original letters which are brittle.
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
Series 1. "Amazing Grace", 1981 (4 folders)
Electrostatic copy of the manuscript "Amazing Grace", an account of a missionary in China, from the letters of Grace E. McConnaughey (1912-1928), by Grace M. Murray, a niece of Grace E. McConnaughey.
Series 2. Correspondence, 1911-28, 1952, n.d. (4 folders)
Predominately letters from Grace to her family during her years in China, 1912-28. They include two hand-drawn maps, and a letter (1911) written by Rev. G. S. Mills (Benzonia, Michigan), in which he praised the missionary work of Grace McConnaughey. Also included is a letter from Hugh Hubbard (on board the S.S. Hupeh) to his "Family and Folks", describing his activities and the situation in China, 1 April 1952.
Series 3. Writings, 1917, 1921, 1923?, 1928?, 1945, n.d. (2 folders)
Writings of Grace E. McConnaughey, published and unpublished, concerning her life and missionary work in China. Included in her published writings are "Big Sister Jen: The Loving Hearted" (1921), a story about a bible women in China; and, "The Removal of an Ancient Landmark" (Mission Studies, February, 7). This article is missing pages.
Series 4. Photographs, [c. 1910-1928?], 1934 (1 folder)
Includes photographs of various school buildings and countryside in Fenchow, China and many of the people whom Grace McConnaughey helped or befriended. Also included are photographs of a trip to Mien Shan, China, in the fall of 1934.
INVENTORY
Series 1. "Amazing Grace"
Box 1
Electrostatic copy of the manuscript Amazing Grace, about
Grace Mcconnaughey's years in China as a missionary,
written by Grace E. McConnaughey Murray, niece of
the missionary. Copyright 1981. (4f)
Series 2. Correspondence
Box 2
Correspondence, 1911, 1913-28, 1952, n.d. (4f)
Series 3. Writings
Box 2 (cont.)
Writings by Grace McConnaughey, published and unpublished,
1917, 1921, 1923?, 1928?, 1945, n.d.
Writings by Other Authors: A review of Rev. Bruce Coplands
pamphlet "Christians Under the Chinese Communist
State", by Earle H. Ballou, 1950?
Series 4. Photographs
Box 2 (cont.)
Photographs of Fenchow school, Shanxi Province, other buildings,
people, and surrounding area, [c.1910-1929], 1934
